Post Scope

Thank you so much for your prayers today! Overall, Judah is doing very well. He’s already back to the mischievous ways his 20 months of age would suggest.

Judah was in the operating room for about 2 1/2 hours this morning. First, he had the circumcision, which went great. Second, he had a bronchoscopy. We were hoping they would find that Judah’s airways were open, but, unfortunately, that’s not what they found. Back in April, they dilated (or stretched) the area that was narrowed by scar tissue. Today, they found that area to, again, be narrowed. Bottom line, the stretched part didn’t stay stretched. That means that the trach stays in until he has surgery to remove the scar tissue.

The surgery is called an LTR (Laryngotracheal Reconstruction). They take a piece of cartilage from the ribs and place it in the airway to make it wider and stronger. We knew this was a good possibility. However, what we weren’t prepared for was that the area around his trach (below where the narrowing is) has begun to soften. Our doctor said this was because of the trach being in for so long. The surgery was planned for September, but now they want to wait until the spring. The main reason for this is that (after today’s discovery) the area that would need to be strengthened is now bigger and would require more cartilage. So we’re not sure if his ribs would be mature enough by the fall to harvest the necessary cartilage.

Needless to say, it was disappointing and frustrating. We’re feeling a lot of emotions right now and have lots of questions for the doctors that we’ll be following up with.

Although we’re frustrated we still choose God. It’s hard, but we know He is good and we choose to trust Him through this. Judah is His and we will rest in the fact that He holds Judah in the palm of His hand.

We ask for your prayers for us and Judah during this recovery time. Thank you so much for caring for us over these past 20 months!